Striking mechanism.



E. D. ROCKWELL.

STRIKING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4. 1912.

1,186, 1 33 Patented June 6, 1916.

75; ATTORNEY,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD D. ROCKWELL, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE NEW DEPARTURE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, A

CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

STRIKING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 6, 1916.

Application filed November 4, 1912. Serial No. 729,277.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD D. ROOK- WELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bristol, county of Hartford, State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Striking Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to striking mechanisms, the illustrated mechanism being more pzltrticularly adapted for use in bells or the li 1e.

One object of my invention is to provide means whereby the striker elements of devices of the character indicated are prevented from rattling.

Another object of my invention is to provide a mechanism of the character indicated which is quickly responsive and gives a clear sharp blow.

Another object is to provide such a mechanism which is inexpensive, etficient and easy to assemble.

Another object is to provide such a mechanism which will not rattle.

To these ends and also to improve generally upon devices of the character indicated, my invention consists in the various matters hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of a bell embodying my in-- vention with the gong thereof removed and the parts moved from initial position, and the strike lug of the gong indicated in dotted lines, the better to show the construction; Fig. 2 is a view showing the striker carrier blank and striker elements; Fig. 3 is a side view of the striker carrier and striker elements partially in section; Fig. 4 is an end view of the parts shown in Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a diametrical section of the gong.

The illustrated embodiment of my invention is shown as comprising the usual base plate 1 upon which are rotatably mounted (preferably loose upon a stationary arbor 2) the gears 3 and 4 connected to each other, for rotation together, in any suitable manner, as by passing the smaller gear 3 through a correspondingly formed opening in the larger gear 4, as shown. Also mounted upon the base plate 1, as upon the stationary arbor 5, is the operating means, shown as a stamped metal lever 6 formed with the segmental gear 7 for enmeshment with gear 3. The lever 6 is preferably resiliently held in and toward initial position by suitable means such, for example, as the tensioned spring 8 connected at its respective ends to the base plate 1 and the lever 6.

The lever 6 is shown as provided with a stop tooth 9 projecting therefrom. in position to contact squarely with the arbor 2, were the gear 3 not present, as by being turned somewhat toward the teeth of the gear 7 and having its end at approximately the same radial distance from the fulcrum of the lever 6 as is the arbor 2, as shown. When the lever 6 is in initial position this tooth rests between certain of the teeth of the gear 3 and, because of the spring 8, the gear is forced against the arbor 2 whereby 2, and rotation of such gears about the arbor 2, is prevented and rattling thereby elimi-' nated. This construction, in connection with the means for holding the striker elements, later to be described, practically eliminates rattling.

Preferably centrally mounted upon the base plate 1 is shown the means for striking the gong and the means for actuating such means. As here shown, a central stationary arbor 10, mounted upon the base plate 1, projects upward therefrom and carries, rotatable thereon, a gear 11 for enmeshment with the gear 4. Upon movement of the lever 6 the gear 11 is driven through the gears 3 and 4. Preferably carried upon the arbor 10, so as to rotate with gear 11, are the striker elements and the supportmg and edges of the body of the carrier. The wings are upturned to form cages for the striker elements or balls 15, 15, the balls being limited in their travel by the outer upturned projections 18, 19, and inner projections shown as struck up fingers 25, 26.

Preferably, and as shown, the wings are curved or bent to substantially conform to a great circle curve of the ball and form. an open-sided cylinder of an inner diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the ball, the width of the side opening being, of course, less than the diameter of the ball, Thus, the ball, due to the side Opening and to the spherical shape of the ball, is mounted for practically free travel and yet, be cause of its close confinement, is held from rattling even though no anti-rattle spring or the like is used.

It will be seen that the above described structure not only provides a quickly responsive device, since the striker elements are free to i1iove.i nactically without friction whereby their quick advance and re turn are assured, but also provides a structure practically without rattle.

In order to connect the gear 11 and the ball carrier or arm 12 for rotation together there may be provided, in the central enlargement 20 of the arm 12, an aperture 21 with its edge provided with lugs 22 (Fig. 2) which engage between the gear teeth when the arm is slipped over the gear. Preferably the teeth are cut back somewhat, providing a shoulder, 23, adjacent the top of each tooth upon which shoulders the arm rests, the reduced portions '2' a of the teeth (Figs. 3 and fl) projecting through the aperture 21 and the lugs 22 engaging between them.

The gear 11 and the carrier 12 are shown as held against shifting along the arbor 10 by means of a malleable deformable washer 2 L slipped over the arbor and pressed into contact with the threads thereof as I find such a washer preferable to a nut since it is less liable to work loose and, being unthreaded, is less expensive than a nut.

A suitable gong, as 27, is preferably provided and mounted upon the base plate 1, as by means of a socket lug 28 threaded upon the arbor 10. This gong is shown as provided with a strike lug 29 upon its interior surface and located, as indicated in Fig. 1, to be struck by the striker elements 15, 15 when these elements, by centrifugal force generated during the rotation of the carrier 12, are partially projected from the cages so that the lug lies within their path of travel.

Since the striker elements are freely movable and practically frictionlessly mounted. and have surfaces of considerable curvature, it will be seen that, when a striker is brought into contact with the strike lug, such striker instantly moves out of contact therewith. A sharp, clear ring, undeadened by the striker remaining in contact with the gong, results. Moreover, because of the practically fric tionless mounting, the striker moves into striking position easily and quickly under the action of but slight centrifugal force so that but slow rotation of the striker arm is necessary and in consequence the device is quickly responsive It will be seen that I have provided an inexpensive, very eflicient and compact device which is not liable to get out of order, does not rattle, whose striker elements are prerented from rattling and which is quickly responsive and gives a clear sharp ring.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a carrier for bells or the like, having adjacent each end thereof, and at the side edges, an upstanding pair of wings, the elements of a pair being opposite and having their upper ends bent to approach but be spaced from each other by a substantial amount, the body of said carrier terminating at each end in an upstanding projection cooperating with the adjacent pair of wings; substantially as described.

2. As an article of manufacture, a carrier for bells or the like, having adjacent each end thereof, and at the side edges, an upstanding pair of wings, the elements of a pair being opposite and upon opposite side edges and having their upper ends bent to approach each other, said carrier being formed adjacent each end with an inner upstanding projection and terminating at each end in an outer upstanding projection cooperating with the adjacent pair of wings and the said inner projection; substantially as described.

3. In a device of the character indicated, the combination with an arbor, a gear thereon, and a fulcrumed actuating member for said gear having a stop-tooth for engagement between the teeth of said gear and with its end facing said arbor along the arc of swing about the fulcrum and at substantially the same radial distance from the fulcrum of said member as is said arbor whereby the arc of swing of the end of said stop tooth passes through said arbor, of means for forcing said stop-tooth against said gear and into mesh therewith; substantially as described.

4;. As an article of manufacture, an actuating lever for striking mechanism or the like in the character of a generally sectoral body having an extension beyond the apex of said sector, gear teeth formed upon the arc of said sector, and a stop-tooth in said arc, said stop-tooth being of greater length than the gear teeth and turned somewhat toward the same; substantially as described.

5. A striking mechanism for bells and the like comprising, in combination, a striker, and a carrier therefor, said carrier having adjacent its end and adjacent its side edges,

a pair of wings, the elements of the pair being opposite and curved to approach each other upon substantially a great circle curve of said striker but with the free ends separated by a substantial distance less than the diameter of said striker, said striker being received between said wings for travel along said carrier, and means for limiting the travel of said striker; substantially as described.

6. As an article of manufacture, a striker carrier for bells or the like, having adjacent an end thereof, and adjacent its side edges, a pair of wings, the elements of such pair being opposite and having their free ends approaching each other, said carrier being provided adjacent said end and said wings with a pair of projections spaced longitudinally of said carrier and cooperating with said wings to provide a striker cage; substantially as described. I

7. As an article of manufacture, a carrier for bells or the like, having adjacent each end thereof and at the side edges, an upstanding pair of wings, the elements of a pair being opposite and having their free ends approaching each other, said carrier being formed adjacent each end with an inner upstanding projection and terminating at each end in an outer upstanding projection cooperating with the adjacent pair of wings and the adjacent inner projection; substantially as described.

8. As an article of manufacture, a carrier for bells or the like having an upstanding pair of wings, the elements of such pair being opposite and spaced from each other and having their upper ends bent to approach but be spaced from each other by a substantial amount, said pair of wings thereby providing a striker cage; substantially as described.

9. As an article of manufacture, a carrier for bells or the like, having adjacent an end thereof, and at the side edges, an upstanding pair of wings, the elements of such pair being opposite and having their upper ends bent to approach but be spaced from each )ther by a substantial amount, the body of said carrier terminating at said end in an upstanding projection cooperating with the adjacent pair of wings; substantially as described.

10. As an article of manufacture, a carrier for bells or the like, having adjacent an end thereof, and at the side edges, an upstanding pair of wings, the elements of such pair being opposite and upon opposite side edges and having their upper ends bent to approach each other, said carrier being formed adjacent said end with an inner. upstanding projection and terminating at said end in an outer upstanding projection cooperating with the adjacent pair of wings and the said inner projection; substantially as described.

11. As an article of manufacture, a carrier for bells or the like, having adjacent an end thereof and at the side edges, an upstanding pair of wings, the elements of such pair being opposite and having their free ends approaching each other, said carrier being formed adjacent said end with an inner upstanding projection and terminating at said end in an outer upstanding projection cooperatin with the adjacent pair of wings and the a jacent inner projection; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD D. ROCKWELL. lVitnesses:

GALES P. MooRE, HAROLD A. KINGSBURY.

Uopiu or this patent may be obtained for five cent: each, by addrening the commissioner of ratentl. Wuhlnzton, D. G." 

